The Inferno Ginseng

“Hey you, young lady … Ning Xian.” Now Xueming's face turned even paler than that of the young girl Ning Xian. When his voice couldn’t wake her up, he had to take the liberty of touching her body. Xueming grabbed Ning Xian's arm and shook it hard, but there was no sign that she would wake up. At least Ning Xian was still breathing. After that, even if Xueming tried several other methods, he still couldn’t wake her up. Instead, he chose to sit and wait quietly by her side.

Unable to awaken Ning Xian, Xueming then chose to pick up the droplet pendant and examine it carefully. Even though he didn’t know the reason, but this light blue pendant must have something to do with Ning Xian's unconsciousness. Xueming inspected it and flipped it back and forth several times. Yet, he found nothing peculiar. Finally, he put the pendant into the mouth to taste it but couldn’t find anything unusual. Therefore, he put it back on his neck.

More than two shichens* already passed, and the sun would rise in less than one shichen. But Ning Xian had no signs of waking up. Xueming thus had to stay up and keep an eye on her.

Creak creak, phew phew… A sound broke out, breaking the silence.

Xueming closed his eyes, using his two ears to identify where the sound came from. But he was unable to tell which direction as if it came from the underground of where he sat. This made Xueming wonder, so he stood up and looked around but didn't see anything. Then, that sound slowly faded away from where Xueming was standing. It went straight in the direction that the senseless figure of the young Ning Xian lay.

Xueming watched everything attentively because now he knew that the sound came from under the ground but couldn’t tell what it was. If deciding to flee while having to carry Ning Xian's body away, he would probably be caught. Besides, from Ning Xian's previous saying that the bad guys were hanging around outside, if he escaped and met them on the way, things could be worse than they currently were.

BLAM !!! ... The sound of dirt erupted into a fist-sized hole before a small human-like figure, about a foot tall, would leap from that hole on the ground. Xueming looked at the event in front of him in disbelief. He didn't know what this emerging creature was. He was sure he had never seen a creature like this before.

“LLLLi… Little devil" Xueming was shocked, stepping backward until tripping over his own feet, his buttocks on the ground. But it seemed like a tiny humanoid creature wasn’t interested in him, as it was heading straight for Ning Xian's unconscious body. Its small, slender but deformed arms quickly tucked into the girl’s clothes, making Xueming agape.

"You psycho devil! Pervert! I’m gonna kill you!” Xueming's mouth kept scolding before soaring at the little devil. But every time Xueming was about to catch it, it hopped away to the other side. Although Xueming tried to attack it many times, this strange creature didn’t even care about his attack. It kept focusing on using his long hands to examine the girl's body as if it was searching for something.

However, Xueming didn’t give up. He persistently harassed the little devil. Finally, the little devil turned his attention to him. Its long thin arm—of which the palm couldn't be clearly seen—immediately hit Xueming’s body on the side. The attack force was more than five hundred jin, like being struck by a hard piece of wood in a fully-grown man's hand. Fortunately, Xueming had the first level of basic Qi. Despite the recession from the previous state, it was the top end of the first level of the basic Qi—almost breaking through to the second level. This allowed him to withstand the physical attack of the little devil, only injured on the outer skin.

Realizing that its attack was unable to drive away the annoying insect Xueming, the little devil hurriedly boosted its internal power until the whole body was on fire. The light from the flames enabled Xueming to clearly see the little devil and realize that this guy was not a devil like he had originally thought. In fact, it was the magic plant that Ning Xian was looking for ... The Inferno Ginseng.

The Inferno Ginseng didn’t wait for Xueming to think through and immediately released a fiery flame onto him.

A palm-sized scorched fire rushed toward Xueming from the front. Xueming did not know how dangerous the flaming fireball was, so he did not dare to directly resist it. He soared to the side and let the fireball hit the cave wall sounding ‘Bang’, with dust falling down afterward. There appeared a large dent sinking deep in the stone wall.

Xueming looked at the traces of the recent attack before gulping down his sticky saliva, imagining that if he had failed to dodge, by now he must have been broken and scorched just like the cave wall behind him.

... The impact of the Inferno Ginseng’s fire attack was incomparable to that of its physical attack. If he kept dodging it, it would not end well. If something went wrong, he would surely become a ghost guarding this cave.

Xueming glanced at Ning Xian for a moment before running sideways to lure the Inferno Ginseng away from the girl's body. But it seemed that the Ginseng didn't want to stay apart from Ning Xian's body at all. As soon as Xueming got too far away, it turned down the overwhelming flames and proceeded to inspect the girl’s body under clothing again.

... This guy is one smart creature, but it seemed to be acting in repetitive patterns. Whenever it was near Ning Xian's body, it refused to use the flames to attack, including when examining Ning Xian's body.

After his experiment of moving closer and farther for three rounds, Xueming was confident in his assumption. Plus, he was not afraid of the Inferno Ginseng’s physical attack at all. Thus, he imitated a tiger when about to pounce on its prey. He crouched low, almost lying on the ground, and slowly crawled toward the Inferno Ginseng while it was concentrating on Ning Xian's body. Now he moved into the position where he is confident that he’d be able to leap at and catch the Inferno Ginseng immediately before it dodged.

"I’m gonna get you," Xueming muttered to himself and leaped out. The Inferno Ginseng was concentrating on searching for something in Ning Xian's body, causing it to be slow for a short while. It turned its body to avoid Xueming’s approaching arms, but not all of its body parts could get away. One of the branches that stretched out as its leg couldn’t escape from Xueming's strong grip, thus causing the Ginseng to be dragged back toward Xueming eventually.

But the Inferno Ginseng did not give up. Now it was emitting scalding flames which slowly burned from the top to the bottom. The scalding heat made Xueming unable to hold onto it anymore. But before releasing his hand, Xueming chose to slam the Inferno Ginseng with all his force onto the ground. Then, the blazing flame flashed and went out.

Seeing that the flames were gone, Xueming then proceeded to pounce on the body of the Inferno Ginseng once more. Yet, the Ginseng could still move quickly as before. Thus, Xueming could catch only one of the branches. At this time, Xueming didn't care if it was the arm, the leg, or whatever protruding from the slim body of the Inferno Ginseng. A resounding fragrance emanated from the torn marks after being thrown to the ground caused Xueming to drool. Seeing the Inferno Ginseng struggling to escape from his hands, Xueming decided to open his mouth and strike a bite onto its skin.

As soon as his mouth touched the leak on the Ginseng, the scalding heat suddenly attacked Xueming that he couldn’t breathe. The pure Yang energy was so hot that it burned his mouth, which became swollen and reddened in the blink of an eye. Inside Xueming's body, it felt as if the flames were running around non-stop. Pain pierced all over his body as if the blood in his body was boiling. Xueming's consciousness began to drift beyond control. In the end, the hands that clutched the Inferno Ginseng loosened.

This time, when the Inferno Ginseng broke free from Xueming's grip, it did not go straight to Ning Xian's body as usual. Instead, it leaped at Xueming who was about to lose consciousness. When moving into the attacking range, the middle of its body slowly opened, revealing small, pointed teeth sticking out. As soon as it approached Xueming’s body, the sharp fangs in the center of the Ginseng suddenly bit Xueming's right arm, sinking its fangs completely.

But then something unexpected happened. The Inferno Ginseng's body that bit Xueming's arm was the one that had to bounce off. The outer surface of the Ginseng had several points of rupture. A large amount of fragrant vapor leaked unceasingly. Despite being curious, it seemed that the Inferno Ginseng was already furious. It didn't pay attention to the first resonance and went straight to Xueming on the left chest area, aiming to break through the young man's heart and terminate him at once. But as soon as it touched his chest, the body of the Inferno Ginseng was pushed out even more strongly that it flew and crashed into the cave wall, now motionless.

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* 1 shichen is equal to 2 hours